The Texas Freedom Caucus is demanding the Texas State Board of Education amend the suggested changes that have been made to the state’s social studies curriculum for public grade school students.
“The proposed changes require educators to, among other things, violate Texas law by, for example, teaching subjects associated with critical race theory and polluting the minds of Texas children by asking them to consider the perspective of the murderous tyrant Santa Anna at the Alamo,” Texas Freedom Caucus Chairman Mayes Middleton (R-Wallisville) wrote in an Aug. 29 letter to the Texas State Board of Education.
In the letter, the Caucus claimed some of the changes in the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) social studies curriculum related to critical race theory and diversity topics were "potentially illegal provisions" and offered ways to ensure they were compliant with Texas law and reflective of the state’s culture and traditions. The letter gave evidence, mostly from teacher notes, on what is planned for the school year.
The first proposal cited H.B. 3979, a bill that bans teachers from discussing controversial events of "public policy or social affairs," specifically the murder of George Floyd as a racially-motivated attack. The Caucus said “the notion that police brutality and ‘systemic racism’ have overtaken law enforcement—a view we very much disagree with—is exactly the type of brainwashing propaganda H.B. 3979 sought to remove from the classroom.” The law requires teachers to speak to these issues with no bias.
The second proposal argues that Texas history must not be excluded: “Texas history is a subject upon which our state has long prided itself—virtually no other state requires the teaching of its own history, but Texas has always been set apart due to our unique status as a previously independent nation and our rich, distinctive culture that came along with that.”
The third proposal demands a balanced teaching of Christianity versus other world religions. The Caucus claims the current curriculum has 20 days dedicated to Hinduism and Buddhism, and only seven days on Christianity. They also seek to bring back using “B.C. (Before Christ)” instead of “B.C.E (Before the common era).
The fourth proposal demands schools not teach the perspective of “murderous tyrant” Santa Anna in the Battle of the Alamo. The letter states, “Under no circumstances should Texas children be taught the ‘other side’ of the Nazi-like tyrants our forefathers valiantly fought to allow us to be where we all are today.” The Caucus commends the teaching of the surrounding facts but claims the current curriculum is “dishonest.”
An op-ed by the Washington Examiner in 2021 stated that critical race theory is being taught in grade schools and cited a Twitter post from Christopher Rufo, who claimed 25 public schools were teaching a book called “Not My Idea” which “traffics in the noxious principles of race essentialism, collective guilt and anti-whiteness.”